Miller-Knox Regional Park in Point Richmond From Richard Katz's
Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email
If you didn't really want to read a rollerskating trails book: Back to Richard Katz's Homepage
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Chapter millknox
Miller-Knox Regional Park in Point Richmond: Skating Around a Duckpond
This trail is along the shore of a duckpond constructed on a former railroad yard at Ferry Point in Point Richmond. The pond, the trail, and the surrounding picnic areas are part of Miller-Knox Regional Shoreline Park, which in turn is part of East Bay Regional Park District. You have a great view of San Francisco Bay while you skate.
Miller-Knox also includes undeveloped parkland with hiking trails in the hills, and the nearby public Keller Beach.
The one mile path around the lake is the closest thing you'll find to an outdoor roller rink &endash;&endash; flat, level, smooth, and fairly well-maintained. Dornan Drive runs past the lake and picnic area, so there is some traffic noise during commute hours. There is plenty of free parking in a series of parking lots along Dornan.
Most of the time this trail and the surrounding park is uncrowded. On a few holidays, though, if the weather is good, it gets a little tight. Easter Sunday and July Fourth come to mind here. There are hardly any bicyclists using this path.
How to Get There by Car from Highway 101:
Take the Richmond Bridge Exit. Head east on Interstate 580, following the signs for the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. When you get to the Richmond side of the bridge, take the first exit = Castro St - Point Richmond. Go through the street light, keeping to your right so as not to end up going back onto eastbound 580. When you come to the intersection of Castro Street and Tewksbury Avenue, jog right, then left,and continue eastward on Tewksbury.
At Washington Street turn right. You have just arrived in downtown Point Richmond. The last stop for food and water is the Santa Fe Market at the corner of Washington and West Richmond Avenue, which has an abundant variety of groceries but no prepared foods.
Turn left on West Richmond Avenue from Washington Street, and continue eastward for two extremely long blocks. After you cross a railroad track, which goes into a railroad tunnel, you will see an automobile tunnel on your right on Garrard Avenue. Turn on your headlights, go through that tunnel, and you will emerge onto Dornan Drive (Garrard turns into Dornan.) Follow Dornan Drive around the bend until you see parking lots on your right. Park anywhere. Turn off your headlights and look towards the Bay. The trail runs for one mile around the pond.
What It's Like:
The path is all asphalt in good condition. There is a bit of a rough patch next to the parking lots at the north end of the park, but nothing that should slow you down too much. At both the north and south end of the pond, there is a choice of longer or shorter route.
On the west side of the pond, about in the middle in the north to south direction, just a few yards from the trail you will see a concrete pad in excellent condition, several thousand square feet in area. The East Bay Regional Park workers keep this area swept and hazard free as a picnic area for wheelchairsl Feel free to use it (when the physically challenged aren't wheeling about) for practicing figure skating, or speedskating, or street hockey, or just for the thrill of rink-type skating without the confines or price of a rink (***** surface.)
There is a pickup hockey game most Sundays around 2 P.M. Besides bringing your skates and your wristguards, be sure to bring knee pads, elbow pads, and a helmet. And a hockey stick. Just so you don't look out of place.
If you want to do some street skating, the town of Point Richmond is just around the bend and through the tunnel from the park. Point Richmond is a small enough town that you can skate more or less safely down the middle of the street in the middle of the day; it's a big enough place, though, that you can get yourself a cappucino at any one of three different establishments. If you don't draw too much attention to yourself, you can get your cappucino and drink it outside without even taking your skates off.
Places to Eat:
If you want to skate to a meal, there are two ways to go.
You can skate south on Dornan Drive, then follow the bends in the road as it turns left and becomes Brickyard Cove Road. Skate past the Richmond Yacht Club. Turn right into the driveway of Brickyard Cove Marina. At the far end of the parking lot, upstairs, is All's Fare, breakfast and lunch, open 7 A.M., closed Mondays. Great view, great food.
Or you can skate north from the park on Dornan Drive, retracing your steps through the tunnel. Be careful going in and out of the tunnel &endash;&endash; this isn't recommended for beginners. Turn left at the corner of West Richmond Avenue, then right on Park Place (between the firehouse and the Point Orient Restaurant.) Cruising down Park Place you can get something quick to eat at (in order of appearance) Rosemary's Bakery (opens at 6 A.M. M-Sat), Little Louie's (opens at 8 A.M.) or Edibles (opens at 7 A.M. M-Sat.) All three serve skaters.
After you skate around town, and just after you skate alongside the Richmond Municipal Natatorium and back through the tunnel, notice the cute little greasy spoon on the corner of West Richmond Avenue, on the other side of Garrard. Usually there are one or two tractor-trailers parked a short block away on Cutting Boulevard, with the drivers sitting in the little coffeeshop, on the other side of Washington Park. If truckstops, like the ones out on the Interstates, have such horrible food, where did the rumor get started that "truckers know where to eat?" From places like this. This place isn't easy to get to from the Interstate with a rig, but it's possible. You've just got to know it's there. Generally, if you see a place that looks like this, with trucks squeezed over on the side like that, that's a good place to eat. If you see a place that looks like this, with trucks with out of state plates squeezed over on the side, that is surely a good place to eat. Or used to be, until quite recently.
On your way back to the park, check out Keller's Beach just to the right of the tunnel. It's pretty steep, but you can skate right up to it.
Public Transportation:
Miller-Knox Regional Park is readily accessible from San Francisco or the East Bay on the 73 bus line of AC Transit. You can get there from Marin County on the Golden Gate Transit Line 40. Both of these lines run daily. Both of these lines connect with BART.
Ratings:
Path Surface = Some ***, mostly **. The figureskating pad is *****.
Public Transit Access = ****
Surroundings = ****
Level of Difficulty = EASY
Overall Rating = ****
Length = a loop of about one mile
Other trails to check out in the neighborhood:
Point Pinole
10/10/96
Note from the Author: Haven't put in links to the other chapters yet.
From Richard Katz's Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email
Back to Richard Katz's Homepage
If you want to go back to the Table of Contents of Skating Unrinked, Back to TOC